Its probably about the way they went through picking them. first 3 for the BBC (UK, Monaco and Brazil) then 3 for Sky (prob. Aus, Italy, Canada) then it was single pics. Choosing Spa over Japan and Singapore over US or Malaysia.

And when we take in account both Bahrain and the USGP might be dropped, its an understandable pick.

Hmm I initially subscribed to this ‘draft’ theory but when trying to apply it I couldn’t find a way it worked. Unless the BBC/Sky went for viewing figures as opposed to what the fans deem the most exciting race.

One of the papers ran a story with the BBC picks, then Sky picks (etc), so it might all pan out. I wonder if the BBC turned down some of the decent races in favour of Olympics or similar – if thats the case, theres a chance following years might see better picks.

Having said that, Spa, Brazil and Silverstone are the one races I rate that they do have; its not going to be a good year.

I doubt the BBC had much choice as to what to choose. Think about it, the most expensive races to cover,- season opener, season closer, and monaco.
Now, the season closer and monaco are must-haves for a television station, so that’s a no-brainer.
Then great tracks/viewing figures in silverstone and spa would also be highly expensive, so the other ones would be mainly down to seeing what’s relatively cheap.

Read Keith’s report. They are getting 90 minutes worth of highlights of every race.
BBC’s negotiating team hence must have decided not to retain races that end in less than 90 minutes (as BBC would get those full races anyways).

Not a fain of Singapore, so 4/10 are good. I don’t consider that a great ratio.

But that wasn’t my point. I said they had most of the worst circuits- Spain, Abu Dhabi, Valencia and Singapore are among the worst on the calender. In comparison, Sky’s worst races are Bahrain (overly hated after the last time they used the dodgy configuration), Hungary (often provides surprisingly good races) and India (dull race but the circuit itself is great).

I agree. China, Barcelona, Valencia and Abu Dhabi over Australia, Germany, Hungary and Suzuka? Montreal and Monza not being there is enough of a shame. Not having a season opener, especially if it is in Melbourne, is a terrible choice.

How can anyone say China is boring? Did you not watch the past 3 races (09,10,11)? All of them were classics, and so was 2006 for that matter. 2004 and 2005 were also exciting, in fact, the only boring race at Shangai I can remember was 2008.
And what’s so special about the modern Hockenheim?I’m happy they chose China over Germany.

It’s sad about the lack of Melbourne and Montreal – generally two of the most entertaining races of the year, but I subscribe to the view that the BBC had little choice in the matter. They’ve already committed to Monaco and the season finale, two of the most popular races, and I suspect Sky had first picks on which ones they wanted exclusively.

Still, the positive is that if you do have/get Sky you’ll be treated to a resurgent IndyCar series and, although this is a hunch, possibly GP2 and GP3 too, given how shocking Eurosport’s shocking coverage this year was, combined with Sky wanting to make their package good value.

IÂ´m not living in the UK and getting the whole season on free TV but IÂ´m quite disappointed that BBC is not broadcasting the Australian, Canadian, Italian and Japanese Grand Prix. Shanghai, Barcelona, Valencia, Korea and Abu Dhabi are quite lame.

Well even if they had a choice… I doubt Sky would have let them have a free choice of any 10 from 20. I’m sure they’d have had a selection process that guaranteed the BBC got some good ones and also had to take some duff ones.

It’s just another reason for me to say “I shouldn’t have to pay for the BBC if I don’t use it” Football and F1 are virtually the only things I watch on the BBC and now I’m going to have to get Sky for the F1 so I can watch them all. Â£140 a year for Match of the Day twice a week seems excessive if you ask me. Time for a change in the law, pay for what you use not so a minority can watch cultural rubbish on BBC4 !!

Hehe. That is not going to work. When everyone starts streaming and servers get clogged you’ll be begging Sky for the channel. Sky knows that if people have the money and “love” the sport, they will pay.